Galaxy S5 Finger Scanner Hacked

Galaxy S5 Finger Scanner Hacked

Less than a week after the device went on sale, the Galaxy S5 fingerprint sensor has been hacked.

Researchers from Berlin-based Security Research Labs managed to trick the equipment using a mould that had previously been created to fool the sensor on Apple's iPhone 5s.

Researchers said they were concerned that thieves could exploit the flaw to trigger money transfers via PayPal, as they were able to access the app using the mould.

PayPal said: "While we take the findings from Security Research Labs [SRL] very seriously, we are still confident that fingerprint authentication offers an easier and more secure way to pay on mobile devices than passwords or credit cards."

Project manager of SRL, Ben Schlabs said: "The fingerprint mould was actually one I made for the Apple device back in September.

"All I had to do was take it out of the reject pile as it wasn't one of the ones that ended up working on the iPhone 5S for whatever reason.